We have always known July 4 as Philippine Independence Day, a day when the US Government finally recognized our republic starting in 1946. This was after joint American and Filipino forces victoriously won the war and ended Japanese occupation in the country. Then US President Harry S. Truman proclaimed that “…the United States withdraws and surrenders all rights of possession, supervision, jurisdiction, control of sovereignty…. and recognizes the independence of the Philippines”. Sixteen years later, in 1962, then Philippine President Diosdado P. Macapagal, upon a strong suggestion from this columnist as his cabinet member, moved the celebration of Philippine Independence Day from July 4 t o June 12, with the belief that we should celebrate our independence not when our colonizers granted it, but when we first declared it. He then instead, proclaimed July 4 to mark Philippine American Friendship Day to commemorate the liberation of the country from the Japanese in 1946, with help from the American forces. This also coincides with the United States’ celebration of Independence Day every 4th of July.
Our country’s first association with the Americans dates back to the time they first aided Filipino rebels under the command of General Emilio Aguinaldo to declare independence from its Spanish rulers in 1898. With vested interests of course, as the Americans realized the strategic value of the archipelago in securing its interests for further conquests in the Pacific region. Thus was our forefathers’ declared freedom short-lived when, under the Treaty of Paris, Spain sold our country to the United States for $20 million. Hence, our country became a U.S. colony for 42 years from 1899 to 1941 until the Japanese assault on US military forces succeeded, vesting control of our archipelago from the Americans to the Japanese. In 1946, the American military, side by side with Filipino soldiers, helped us a second time to gain freedom from the Japanese forces after four years of occupation.
For over four centuries of foreign rule by the Spanish, Americans and Japanese, it was under the American regime that our country’s development started to bloom. It was a rule that favored political, social and economic development and was not oppressive but tutelary or instructive. The bitterness brought by the Philippine-American war that ensued after a short-lived independence from long years of Spanish rule was quickly forgotten as the Filipinos experienced the American way of democracy, free enterprise and a high regard for individual rights and freedom. It was not difficult to appreciate a style of governance imbued with concern and a guiding spirit, seen from the establishment of an American style of public education, the modernization of health and public services and the institution of the first Philippine legislative assembly during the first few years. It was the only colonial government that was interested in honing the local government in preparation for eventual separation and independence as a full-pledged republic.
Notwithstanding the continued control that the US wanted then as evidenced by the establishment of the US military bases, it is not for naught that our Filipino revolutionaries recognized their world dominance and valuable military support not only once. Filipinos and Americans fought side by side in Bataan and fought fiercely together in the American Liberation of Manila. We allowed them to help us fight our foreign captors, and later to guide us in internal government affairs for almost 50 years. Intermarriages brought Fil-Americans into the world and many American families have settled here and became Filipino citizens. For our early governments to have designated a special day to mark our friendship with America only means that they must have really done something good for our country and democracy.
Revolutionaries of today who see the Americans as imperialists, cannot deny the good that has resulted from continued Philippine-American relationship. Examples of governance and democratic principles, the mastery of the English language recognized in the world, beautiful landscapes of Baguio and Cebu City, Manila’s glorious city architecture, the American culture and discipline that tempered our own fierceness and fire- these are American legacies that will forever be etched in the Filipino psyche.
Between a successful colonization and a strong democracy, I am inclined to judge the fruit of the relationship to be the latter because, today, we are a nation governed by a free people with a free spirit. And it will continue to be so.